


Grand Weddings and Intimate Love

by ingthing



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, M/M, Marriage, Metaphors, Post-Canon, Romance, Weddings, waxing poetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 17:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10858989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ingthing/pseuds/ingthing
Summary: Upon reflection, Victor realizes that Yuuri is like a hot spring.





	Grand Weddings and Intimate Love

**Author's Note:**

> [Lii](http://archiveofourown.org/users/LinneaKou) said she wanted fluff. I was taking a break from finals work. I started thinking about weddings. And then an hour later, I had sent all this in chat and I don't know how it happened.
> 
> Anyway, I learned that I'm really dramatic and sappy, today.
> 
> Not beta'd, but enjoy!

All his life Victor's heard about grand weddings with even grander proceedings and he doesn't fully understand all the pomp and circumstance, because people still seem to get divorced regardless of their huge displays of love. Sure, it might be nice to find someone he loves enough to want to make a grand gesture of a marriage with, but his parents got a civil marriage in a courthouse when they were broke and young and they seem to be doing fine.

Then the glitz and glam that comes with being Russia's, then the world's most decorated male figure skater sweeps him off his feet with such force that it carries him off like a rapid. Champagne, society, trips to Greece and Monaco, sponsor gifts and admirers from every corner of Europe become his day to day beyond the skating that keeps him grounded.

It keeps him grounded but numb, devoid of any real connection to another human being save the few that he calls friends. And the glitter fades and Makkachin is aging- Victor aging with her, and he's forced to look around and feel how empty his apartment is. He's still the best and skating is still there but the ground he depends on feels like an upward climb with no motivation to power him through.

And then, with just as much gusto, Yuuri comes along and gives him a boost.

Like the promise of sunlight cracking over the hill of a dismal hike before dawn, one that makes Victor smile and find something to go and look forward to. Yuuri came crashing in like a wave, pulling up all the grains of pretense Victor covers himself with every moment of the day and exposing the raw debris underneath, but rather than feeling unsafe and invaded, the wave is warm and helps him stay afloat.

Yuuri recedes into silence after the banquet and Victor keeps going and wins again at Nationals, again at Worlds', and then the season is over; and just when it feels like the piece of hope he's been holding onto is fool's gold, Yuuri skates his routine, and Victor sees it.

Victor abandons his winning streak, pushes all his obligations aside, and keeps going for the hope that Yuuri planted in him months ago, believing that whatever's there will feel better, more fulfilling, than what he already has.

But it isn't, not the way he expected it to be.

Skating is how Victor escapes, it carries him with air rushing past, but it feels colder now, and he just wants it to be warm and inviting again.

Yuuri is cold.

He's not inhospitable by any means, but he's _cold_ , like he doesn't remember showing Victor the light or dancing the night away with him.

(It's with some relief later that Victor is informed that Yuuri really didn't remember, and this cool behavior falls into place.)

But Victor had been expecting that rush of exhilarating air, the sudden warmth of the sun on his face after being in the shade for too long.

Upon reflection, Victor realizes that Yuuri is like a hot spring.

Now, a Japanese hot spring- first, you rinse yourself off, cleaning the grime and sweat off your skin before turning the water off and shivering with cold. Victor likens this to the way that Yuuri gave him the best night of his life before dropping contact completely.

Then, you make your way carefully across tiled floors to the outside, tense from the cold until you sigh in relief and step into the steaming water of the outdoor spring. But the gratification isn't so fast to act.

You would expect the bath to warm you up, thaw you through upon contact. But the fact of the matter is, the first moment of contact is a conflict between your skin and the water, cold clashing with heat and stinging a little bit. An adverse reaction that Victor powers through, because he believes there's something more to be had.

It can take a while for the sting to numb and slip from the forefront of your mind, and then you sigh in relief, because the worst is over.

But at that point, the hot spring still hasn't done its work.

It's a luxury that requires patience.

(Victor learns this the hard way. The first time he steps into a hot spring, he doesn't even get past the adjustment period because Yuuri bursts out from the shower room fully clothed and Victor has to make an introduction.)

But once he has the time, Victor learns that patience is key to the hot spring experience. Time is the only thing that lets the warm waters work, warming you through to the bone and relaxing your weary muscles and mind.

Yuuri is like a hot spring, because his warmth creeps up to Victor and slowly dissolves through the layers of protection Victor has grown through the years, and then they're gone, and Victor only then realizes that the warmth has reached his heart.

And while the hot spring has a time limit before your body has too much and you have to get out, Yuuri's effect on him will likely last forever, and Victor doesn't care that that sounds scarily absolute, because he just knows.

They love each other, and they're fond of grand gestures on the ice.

But Victor still doesn't quite understand the grandness of weddings and all the extravagance that comes with them.

And it might be because he's known grandness for a majority of his adult life, has performed it, has been surrounded by it, has succumbed to it on occasion.

And people say that it's all for _love_ , and that love ought to be celebrated with the world.

Maybe other people's love ought to be celebrated that way, but not Victor's.

What "people" forget is that love is intimate, and Victor learns this from the moment he crashes into Yuuri on the ice in Beijing, cradling his head and feeling breathless and loved. Thousands of eyes, and then millions more from the cameras trained on them, stopped and stared as they kissed and fell, but for all they knew they were the only two people there.

So Victor doesn't want a huge wedding with a camera crew and celebrity attendees and real silk napkins, because that's not what his love is— his love is returning to the old inn where he fell in love with Yuuri, walking along the bridge they used to cross every day the first year they knew each other, and kissing in the changing room of the rink where their love grew.

A few guests expressed some confusion when they arrived at the venue, Ice Castle Hasetsu, and were greeted with old blue benches and worn linoleum floors. Perhaps this wasn't the way they imagined the wedding of two of the world's most decorated figure skaters would go.

But this isn't the wedding of Victor Nikiforov, the skater, or even of Victor Nikiforov, the man. It's the wedding of Victor the partner, to his partner, Yuuri, because they couldn't imagine being anywhere else with anyone else.

They call everything on the ice love, and in their opinion, there's no better place to exchange their vows to each other.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a little different and spur-of-the-moment, but I hope you liked it!
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr [@ingthing](http://ingthing.tumblr.com/)! I'm also on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ingthing) under the same username.
> 
> Kudos and Comments are greatly appreciated <3


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